Together With You
by Gaelcelt
Summary: Steve/Bucky slash. Songfiction. After the events of "Remember When It Rained". Steve, desperate for Bucky/ the Winter Soldier to recognize and remember him, visits Bucky in his holding cell. His prayers are answered. Tenor Alessandro Safina's song "Insieme A Te" is the featured song. Section three of the "Our Saga" series.


These characters are not mine.

Steve/Bucky slash. Songfiction. Steve, desperate for Bucky/ the Winter Soldier to recognize and remember him, visits Bucky in his holding prayers are answered. This follows the story "Remember When it Rained". The song selection is "Insieme A Te" by classical-crossover tenor Alessandro Safina; the combination of his powerful, rich voice and the lush, sweeping melody are breathtakingly beautiful and emotional.

Together With You

The Winter Soldier turned toward his cell door, the guards said something hushed to some unseen visitor. He hesitated when he saw Steve step through it, gazing at him beseechingly.

"Bucky…!" he gasped, "It's Steve-!"

The assassin's expression remained blank. It jarred Steve, "Bucky, don't you know who you are? Who I am? It's Steven Grant Rogers… it's Steve-!

Something flickered in the eyes of the previously cold-blooded assassin, although he did not lower his guard as Steve edged toward him.

"Bucky, please…!" Steve's eyes were glassy and his voice trembled, but he held firm as he knelt before Bucky in the cell. His hair was a tangled mess, he was unshaven, he looked like he hadn't been allowed a bath for a day or so, his eyes were ringed with violet and he looked exhausted. But he was alive.

Bucky felt something stir inside him that he had not felt for many years as Steve grasped his hands, hardly caring that one was now metal.

"Whatever you do Bucky, whatever you do to me… remember that I love you…!" Steve threw his arms around his former lover and wept, kissing him desperately.

Deep inside Bucky, the heart that had been numbed by the cruelty of his captors and of their orders thawed, melting like the snow in springtime. Memories washed over him, heightening the dull ache in his heart, a pain that hurt infinitely more than the physical injuries that he had endured in his life.

"Steve-!" Steve heard Bucky gasp, feeling the other man embrace him with equal desperation.

"I thought I'd lost you…!" Steve wept for joy into Bucky's neck, "You're alive…!"

"Steve…!" Bucky squeaked as he clung to Steve, "Oh god, you're here-!"

"You're alive-! It's a miracle…!" Steve squeezed Bucky gingerly, running his hand through Bucky's dishevelled raven hair. Bucky shivered with delight at the caress and wept with him as the memories clashed in their minds, as their pain fought to escape from them… part of him could not believe that Steve would welcome him with open arms after the crimes that he had committed, even after he had tried to kill Steve. It frightened and relieved him.

"Steve…!" Bucky gasped after an eager kiss, "How can you accept me after all that I've done? I tried to shoot you-!"

Steve peppered Bucky's face with kisses, "That wasn't you, Bucky. I know that it wasn't you… they turned you into somebody else," he winced, "But you're home…!"

Bucky collapsed against him, feeling succour after his years of hardening himself beyond caring. "I love you, Bucky…!" Steve's urgent whisper removed all doubt in Bucky's mind.

"I'll stay here for now, if you don't mind," Steve unflappably told Fury, who stared in disbelief. One of the two guards had gone to summon Fury after they told Captain America that visitors had only a few hours with the prisoner and were rebuffed. To their amazement and frustration, Steve had proven immovable.

"But you can't stay in here," Fury was stunned that Captain America would willingly stay in a cell with a potentially dangerous prisoner, even if the Winter Soldier was the man that he loved, "It's against regulations."

"Fury, I don't care," Steve argued, his arm draped around Bucky's shoulder, "I almost lost him twice and I will not be separated from him again."

Fury regarded them for a moment, looking from Steve to Bucky and then back again. The man he now knew as Bucky Barnes no longer wore the stone-dead look on his face while Steve's outer calm was betrayed by the pained, urgent look in his eyes, a look that the former Winter Soldier also wore. He shut his eyes and sighed in defeat, "All right. As you're so insistent, I will let you visit him whenever you see fit, Rogers. But remember that you will have guards posted outside, and if it is the case that he is released he will be your responsibility."

Steve did a double take before he broke into a surprised smile, "Thank you, Sir!" he exclaimed, all but ready to kiss Fury. "I assure you that I'll be on my best behavior," Bucky added. Fury just sighed and shook his head before he sauntered away.

Turning to face Bucky, who looked radiant, Steve realized that he and Bucky had a cell to themselves. He pulled Bucky close, "I want you. I've been without you for too long."

"I want you too," Bucky purred, "Of course, with a shower, I would be a bit more receptive… I'm a mess."

Steve laughed fondly, "I love you all the same."

"Yeah, but I've gone without a shower for a few days; they wouldn't let me out."

The thought of Bucky under a warm shower entered Steve's mind, of the two of them lathering each other… he trembled, "Yes, yes we can stop by the shower room," he answered the tired soldier in his arms.

"Hey, you don't have to shower with me," Bucky said in surprise as Steve removed his dress shirt, "Not if you don't have to."

"I want to," Steve murmured as he stroked Bucky's shoulder, "I've missed you, soldier."

Bucky stirred as a part of him that had been stifled reawakened, realizing just how much that he wanted to. He nodded eagerly, both of them sniggering as they kissed and then resumed disrobing.

Bucky could barely restrain himself as he watched Steve undress. His chest was as muscular as ever, his arms sinewy and powerful. Steve felt Bucky's gaze on him and he was thrilled, turning to face Bucky…

Steve let a horrified gasp as he saw Bucky. Bucky still bore the torture marks from Zola, but several were new to him. Bucky's left arm was entirely metal now; an ugly, seersucker scar formed a crevice in Bucky's right calf; and his back was covered with cuts from a whip that had long since healed.

Bucky turned to meet Steve's shocked stare, realizing that he had presumed that Steve had known. "I'm sorry, I should have told you…!" Bucky said, crestfallen.

The look of desire had gone from Steve's eyes, but it was not disgust that replaced it as Bucky presumed. The blond's eyes once again grew glassy and he was almost instantly at his lover's side, "Who did this to you?"

Bucky looked at his metal arm, "This was here when I woke up" his voice was quiet, "When I first found myself in the custody of the Soviets. They never gave me a reason, but I know now that it must have been from the fall from the train…"

Steve shuddered at the memory of the train, but pressed on, "What about your leg?"

"One day early on, when I stepped out of line, they let a guard dog attack me… when I dodged it, they took me to the whipping post and gave me a hundred and fifty lashes… I passed out after seventy-eight, but they took me back and gave me the rest a few days later when I'd recovered…"

Bucky once again looked detached, although his eyes now were glazed with terror. Steve held him gingerly, "It's all my fault-!" he gasped, "I should have grabbed you and pulled you out of the way before Zola fired-!"

"What could you have done, Steve?" Bucky had found his voice, trying to reassure Steve, "Don't blame yourself."  
He felt Steve sobbing, "I can't help it…! That someone would do this to you…! That somebody would hurt you...!"

Bucky again felt his eyes stinging with tears and he rocked with Steve, relieved that Steve had shown him not anger or suspicion but only love and compassion, relieved by the warm sensation of skin against skin, relieved that he was safe and that he was reunited with the man he had been forced to forget.

_Seguo il percorso del vento **(I follow the wind)**  
Toglie il respiro pensare un pò a te **(And breathlessly realize)**  
Che ancora a dispetto del tempo cammini con me **(That we are still together after all this time)**  
Noi siamo stati 2 amanti 2 amici 2 complici 2 buone idee **(We are two lovers, two friends, two companions, two good ideas)**  
Navigatori 2 vele nell' eternità **(Two sailors on the ship to eternity)**  
Vago nell' anima tua ma senza fermarmi perché vuoi cosi **(I unremittingly penetrate your soul, since you ask that of me)**  
'Non vuoi che rinunci alla mia soltanto perché tu sei qui **(Without losing myself in you just because you are there)**  
Dimmi chi sei **(Tell me who you are)**  
Che stradda farai **(Tell me where you're going)**  
So che è la stessa che m'inventerei per noi **(Because wherever that is, I will go with you)**_

The warm water rushed over their nakedness and before Bucky could reach the soap, Steve had grabbed it and was massaging him, lathering him. "You're so beautiful…!" Steve murmured as he kissed Bucky's face.  
Bucky felt warm tears ooze from his eyes and he pulled Steve into a full-body hug, elated that he was free and that someone was showing him tenderness again, "God, don't ever let go of me…! It's been so long, Steve-!"

"Never…! I'm not letting anyone hurt you again!" Steve winced as he caressed his soapy hands over the cruel scars on Bucky's muscled back, wishing that he could erase them as he stroked a hand into Bucky's hair, "Your poor back…!"

Sneaking the soap from Steve, Bucky began lathering his troubled lover, savoring the tight muscles under the supple skin, the broad shoulders, "I can't begin to say how much that I've wanted someone to touch me, to touch someone else… nobody ever held me when I was the Winter Soldier…"

Steve nodded, kissing the crook of Bucky's neck before ending the embrace to begin lathering him again, "You're a dream come true… I wasn't sure if I'd be able to reach you…" he murmured as he ran his soaped hand over Bucky's chest, rubbing his way down to his hips, to the ebony nest of curls that adorned his loins.

Bucky gasped at the caress before he reciprocated, making Steve moan and nearly climax. It was music to their ears.

_Insieme a te giorno per giorno **(I walk beside you, day after day)**  
Camminerò estate e inverno **(Summer and winter together with you)**  
Più non avrò sete nell' anima **(My thirsting soul is quenched)**  
Perché tu sei d'acqua e di musica **(Because you are the water and music)**  
Di fuoco e d'estasi **(The fire and ecstasy)**  
Di verità **(The truth)**  
Di fantasia **(The fantasy)**  
Senza rimpianti **(Without regrets)**  
La via dei canti io seguirò **(I follow the path to bliss)**_

The shower had revived their hunger for each other and they ventured out to dry themselves and dress. When Steve reached for a towel, he felt Bucky drying him off. Amused, he took the towel he'd grabbed and began drying Bucky, who laughed. In a moment they were laughing in each other's arms. They'd missed hearing each other laugh.

"You have no idea how good it feels to hear you laugh, Bucky! You sound more like your old self," Steve sounded spent but elated.

Bucky kissed him, "You always knew how to make me happy, you big lug…!"

Steve returned the kiss eagerly, "_You_make me happy…!"

They finished drying themselves and dressed before they returned to the cell, indifferent to the half-amused expressions of the guards.

"You would spend the night with me in a prison cell?" Bucky exclaimed in disbelief, "It's cold and gritty in here."

"I don't care," Steve pulled him close, reassuring himself that Bucky was real, "In the woods on the front lines or in a nice bed, as long as you're here with me and you know that I love you I don't care."

They undressed each other again and fell onto the bed, rediscovering each other. Steve squeezed Bucky's bottom to reassure himself that this was really happening, which caused Bucky to retaliate and made them both laugh.  
Bucky's moaning never sounded so beautiful to Steve before as he kissed his way down Bucky's throat to his chest, where he eagerly engulfed a peaked nipple. Bucky writhed in joy and stroked Steve's hair. The blond trembled a bit at the feeling of metal, but it made little difference to him and his kisses down Bucky's torso became more passionate.

"You smell so sweet…" Steve gasped as he rested his face on Bucky's loins, kissing the tender mound of pale flesh that led to Bucky's standing cock and his tightened pouch, "Oh god, I love you…!"

Bucky's tender smile was replaced by a stricken look as Steve wrapped his mouth around his most intimate parts. He had not been touched like this in a long time and he nearly came instantly.

Steve felt alternating desire, relief, and anxiety that the man he loved was real instead of just another dream and was writhing as he pleasured him. He still feared on some level that he would wake up in the cell and Bucky would be gone, disappeared with the morning light.

_Sento il passagio del tempo e vivo contento di quello che ho **(I feel time passing and I'm happy with what I have)**  
Con gli occhi della memoria ti accarezzerò **(I look back on my life with you with fondness)**  
Ma tu sei futuro e radici e quello che dici mi mostra la via **(You are the future and show me the way)**  
Il canto da il nome alla terra che percorrerò **(The way to happiness and the way I follow)**  
Dimmi chi sei **(Tell me who you are)**  
E' come farò **(What will become of me)**  
Per ritrovarmi quando non sarai con me **(When you are no longer with me)**_

Steve nearly hyperventilated as he lowered his hips, recovering from his orgasm. He was moist with sweat and he still tingled, weakened from the waves of ecstasy. For a moment, he forgot where he was and that he was awake. Fearing that this was just another bittersweet dream, he felt his eyes water and he heard himself moaning for Bucky.

"What's wrong, Babe?" Bucky's voice broke Steve's daze. Steve saw Bucky looking worriedly at him from just a few inches away.

His fear draining from him, Steve gasped, "You're here…! It wasn't a dream-!"

Bucky greeted him with a kiss, "No, it wasn't a dream… don't cry, love."

"Please, just hold me…!" Steve's voice was almost silent with emotion.

Shifting in the bed, Bucky settled in and cradled Steve's head on his chest while Steve eagerly yielded to the embrace.  
"You're beyond wonderful…!" Bucky murmured into Steve's hair, holding him desperately, "I could hold you like this forever…! ...I still have flashbacks, though. Promise me that you'll hold me, that you'll stay with me when I'm like that." "  
"I'm all yours…" Steve wept joyously as he kissed Bucky's beating heart, "You mean everything to me… Anything that it takes, I'm not going to lose you again…! I love you…!"

"I love you…!" Bucky crooned, fluffing Steve's hair.

_Insieme a te giorno per giorno **(I walk beside you, day after day)**  
Camminerò estate e inverno **(Summer and winter together with you)**  
Più non avrò sete nell' anima **(My thirsting soul is quenched)**  
Perché tu sei d'acqua e di musica **(Because you are the water and music)**  
Di fuoco e d'estasi **(The fire and the ecstasy)**  
Di verità **(The truth)**  
Di fantasia **(The fantasy)**  
Di libertà **(The freedom)**  
E di poesia **(And the poetry)**  
Imparerò **(I will learn)**  
Saprò chi sei **(I will know who you are)**  
Senza rimpianti **(Without regrets)**  
La via dei canti io seguirò **(I follow the path to bliss)**_

Fin.


End file.
